This was my second time in Panama, though this visit wasn’t by choice. It was the only way to change my ticket from Caracas to the US without paying an extra fee. I chose the Nomada Republic hotel in the city center for its convenient location. Each container was divided into two rooms, with the […]
El Salvador The bloody 12-year civil war between the government and the guerrilla movement in El Salvador ended in 1993. Tens of thousands of people died, and many Salvadorans fled the country. I worked with one such refugee in Australia in the 1990s. As soon as the war was over, he began making plans to
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Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago I took a regular bus from the airport into town; it’s much cheaper and more fun than a taxi. I walked the rest of the way to the hotel. I travel light, with a small backpack, but the heat slowed me down. Booking.com suggested Villa Florencia as a reasonably
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Georgetown, Guyana I took the bus from the airport to the city and then walked to TStays hotel. It is a small, modern hotel with just a few rooms and keypad locks throughout. Someone opened the iron gate for me, but then I tried to enter the code on my room’s digital lock it did
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Suriname Georgetown was our final stop. In the morning, we went to the park to see manatees, or sea cows. These huge, harmless creatures inhabit a pond in the city center. They only emerge from the water to graze on grass; the rest of the time, they remain out of sight. Manatees can stay submerged for
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Paramaribo A ferry runs from Suriname to Guyana once a day at 8:00 a.m. or rather, it departs as soon as it’s full. If you miss it, you’re out of luck and have to wait until the next day. We arranged to leave at 4:00 a.m. As I mentally prepared myself for an early departure
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Fungu Island “Above the white city, I see golden moonlight, I hear the whisper of pearly waves. Crimson corals bloom; the pearly surf lies still. The city of happiness — a dream I’ve long held dear. Paramaribo, Paramaribo, Paramaribo — city of the morning dawn. I know your golden beach still awaits me, as do the white
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French Guiana – Suriname We stayed in Paramaribo for the night and set off the next morning to spend two days deep within the Central Reserve on Fungo Island in the jungle. We were told to leave most of our belongings in storage at the hotel and to pack only the essentials for one night
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Devil’s Island, French Guiana For that morning, we had a scheduled tour of the Kourou space center from which France and other European nations launch their satellites into orbit. We had submitted our application forms in advance; everyone in the group had passed the security check and received confirmations that the visit was approved. We
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Brazil to French Guiana The entire following day was devoted to a trip to Devil’s Island, home to a notorious maximum-security prison. The prison was built in 1852. France used it to exile to distant Guiana primarily political prisoners. Inmates included conspirators against Napoleon, the famous Alfred Dreyfus who was falsely accused of spying for
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